Meet the team
Autonomy Care Group Directors:
Andrew Dykes
Chairman
Andrew is a non-practising barrister whose initial career was in marine insurance where he specialised in oil pollution of the sea.
After a Sloan Fellowship at the London Business School in 1986-87 he branched out into other fields and has held directorships of several companies.
He has been involved in the care of people with learning disabilities as an owner/operator since 1997 and is closely involved with the operation of the services provided.
Steve Tayler
Director
Steve has over 20 years experience of working alongside individuals with profound learning disabilities, challenging behaviours and or complex health care needs. Steve has been a member of the management team since May 2008, and Director since 2016.
Steve has obtained his level 4 management award, in addition to the relevant mandatory training requirements.
Lucy Jolliffe
Commercial Director
Lucy achieved her CIMA qualification in 1997. Her career progressed over the following years primarily within manufacturing organisations reaching Director of Finance before taking a career break to raise a family.
Lucy Joined the company in 2010 predominantly to oversee the accounting function, however, her role has now developed to manage all aspects of finance, admin and HR for the company.
Pete Bates
Operational Development Manager
Pete has worked in Health and Social Care for 26 years with people with learning disabilities and complex needs. He has worked in England and Wales in both the private and charitable sectors at Manager and Regional Manager level.
Pete is our Positive Behaviour support lead, overseeing the delivery of Positive Behaviour Management training for all our services. He has attained a Level 5 diploma in Health and Social Care and is a Manual Handling Trainer and Person-centred Planning facilitator. Pete was the registered manager for The Willows and Willow View, before changing his role to Operational Development Manager in 2021.
Sharon Young
Registered Manager
Lynette Collier
Assistant Manager
Lynette has over 25 year’s experience of working alongside individuals with learning disabilities, challenging behaviour and Mental Health starting as a support worker.
She started with Autonomy Life in March 2020 and wanted to build good knowledge and relationships within The Willows, to enable staff and service users to reach their full potentials.
Lynette feels she is empathetic and a great people’s person and has achieved her level 4 Diploma in Health and Social Care.
Nicholas Faulkner-Elliott
Area Manager
Nic joined Autonomy Life Limited in November 2020 as Area Manager based at The Oaks in Worcestershire. He has worked in a number of different care settings spanning over 20 years including Children's EBD/LD and adult community and residential settings.
He has worked primarily with people with complex needs and challenging behaviour across these settings.
Further to this Nic started a consultancy and training role nation wide, working in both children's and adults residential homes to support each service and to make sure all service users had the right person centred care. He then went onto obtaining his Level 4 Management Award (RMA), Level 3 Award in Education and IOHS in addition to the relevant mandatory training requirements.
Nic is a strong believer in person centred care, developing staff and encouraging people to reach their full potential and is excited to start his new journey with the company.
Adina Iures
Registered Manager
Working at The Oaks for over 7 years having started as a support worker, progressing to team leader and now the Registered Manager.
She achieved level 2 in Health and Social Care, level 2 in Team Leading and QCF level 5 in Health and Social Care. She also has a degree in psychology achieved at the University in Bucharest.
She enjoys working with people with challenging behaviour and finds her job really rewarding. She believes that when you work in care you need to have empathy for the people that you support, and they will reward you back with happiness and progression.
Claire Hawkins
Acting Assistant Manager
Claire started her journey with Autonomy Care Group in 2010 when she joined the Autonomy Life team as a support worker.
Her achievements include Health and Social Care NVQ level 2, ICQ level 3 Diploma in Health and Social Care and ICQ Intermediate Level 2 Apprenticeship in Team Leading.
In 2018 Claire Joined the domiciliary side of the business at Autonomy Care as a Care-Coordinator. Claire was able to expand and utilise her extensive knowledge in supporting adults with learning disabilities and complex behavioural needs.
The role enabled Claire to take on more managerial responsibilities and she is currently working towards a Level 5 Leadership and Management Diploma in Health and Social Care which she will be applying to her new role as Acting Assistant Manager back with Autonomy Life.
Jacky O’Driscoll
Trainee Assistant Manager
Jacky has over 30 years experience working in the care sector, initially starting in a residential care setting in Wales. She later moved to Malvern where she trained as a counsellor for “Life" before joining Hereford and Worcester Ambulance Service and recently employed with West Midlands Ambulance Service as a bank staff member in her spare time.
She joined Autonomy Life in 2010 as a support worker and progressed to her current role as Trainee Assistant Manager in 2020. She has achieved both her NVQ level 2 and level 3 in care, a level 2 team leader qualification and an IQ functional skills qualification in ICT in 2017. This training has complimented her development to add experience and longevity to the management team.
Amanda Wheeler
Registered Manager
Her career in care started in Plymouth where she achieved NVQ 3 in Health and Social Care at Plymouth College. After leaving college in 2009, Amanda went to work in Plymouth hospital as a healthcare assistant.
Having progressed through various healthcare sectors from hospitals, domiciliary care to supported living, she was then seconded to work in a dementia home in Bath.
Amanda started working for Autonomy Care in November 2018 and looks forward to making a positive impact and difference to service users, staff and family members within her role.
Leanne Myers
Registered Manager
Denise Sparks
Registered Manager
Denise began working in a Special Residential School in Dorset with children and young people with Autism and associated learning difficulties in 1998. Initially working as a support worker and then progressing to care manager before leaving in 2016. Over that time she gained her Level 3, Level 4 with Children and Young People, PTLLS, Train the Trainer, Autism accredited learning and also completed her knowledge training with PECs, as well as many others.
In 2016 Denise moved into the role of Registered Manager working with young people with adverse childhood trauma where she stayed for almost 3 years. Over this time she completed 6 modules of her Level 5 award in Leadership and Management to enhance her qualifications, whilst continuing to support young people with Aspergers to successfully move into support living placements within the community. In 2019, Denise enhanced her experience by moving into the role of Registered Manager with a domiciliary care company nearer to her home and registering with CQC.
Missing working with young people, at the end of 2019, Denise became Registered Manager for a service in Warminster and more recently took up the appointment of Registered Manager with Autonomy Plus in November 2020. In her new role with the company she has been fundamental in the opening of a new bespoke home working again with young people with Autism.
Denise is looking forward to the next part of her journey, enabling, empowering and building a successful team and ultimately supporting young people on their journey.
Mike Evans
Area Manager
Mike started working in care in 2010, working with vulnerable adults with learning disabilities. 5 years later Mike began working in childcare, working with children with autism and associated disabilities. By 2017 Mike completed his QCF Level 3 and then became a Deputy Manager when moving to work with children with emotional and behaviour difficulties.
In 2018 he moved back to his passion which was working with children with disabilities as a Registered Manager. Mike joined Autonomy Plus in November 2019 as a Service Manager before receiving his registration in May 2020. In early 2021, Mike is now one of our Area Managers, overseeing all of our services.
David Williams
Service Manager
David joined the Royal Navy at 16 and spent the next 10 years in the service before leaving to start a family. Since 1990 David has been working in children’s residential services, in both the public and private sector, in homes with a variety of specialisations.
As a carer, David looked after many children and young people during this time and has broad experience of childcare, which includes young people with complex health needs and those who have social, emotional and mental health difficulties.
David has been an Ofsted Registered Manager for a significant proportion of his career and always looked to put young people first in whatever role he has performed. Over 3 decades in childcare, he has undertaken a great deal of additional training to support his role and looks to pass on his knowledge and experience to those in his team.
David has a keen interest in rugby. He is a family man and has his own children and grandchildren.
Autonomy Care Group - Head Office:
Hazel Wordley
HR Executive
Hazel’s career began in administration gaining experience in various industries including manufacturing, health and social care and recruitment, progressing into supervisory and office management roles.
Having developed an interest in employee relations and employment law Hazel achieved her CIPD Level 5 Intermediate Certificate in HR Management. She pursued a career in Human Resources and joined Autonomy Care Group in August 2017 as HR Executive to support the group and service managers with all aspects of Human Resources.
Kayleigh Neech
Finance Manager
Kayleigh’s career in finance began 8 years ago when she enrolled in AAT Level 2 at Trowbridge College and started working as an Accounts Assistant. Since then, she has completed her AAT studies and is now working to obtain her ACCA accountancy qualification, gaining finance experience in a variety of sectors. She joined Autonomy Care Group as a Finance Manager in November 2020 to support business growth. Kayleigh is ready to get stuck into her new management role and is excited about having the opportunity to develop within a growing company.
Sophie Clark
Finance Manager
Sophie has been working in accounts for nearly 6 years. Starting in an accountancy practice dealing with various small and medium sized businesses mainly in the construction industry.
After a successful time in practice she decided to explore a new sector, joining Autonomy Care Group in February 2021 as a Finance Manager. Sophie is looking forward to getting stuck into her role and grow within the company.
Sarah Lewis
Accounts Assistant
Sarah has recently moved to Wiltshire from Essex and saw the position of Accounts Assistant with Autonomy Care Group the perfect opportunity, after working 10 years within the animal care industry.
She decided that she would like to further her interests in accounting and begin a career within that sector. Sarah is excited to become a part of the Autonomy team, learn all the skills required for her job role and progress further, with hope to gain AAT qualifications and some point in the future.
Steph Pearce
HR/Admin Assistant
After Steph finished school and college, she started her first full time job in an apprenticeship working towards her level 3 in Business Administration.
Upon completion of her apprenticeship, she starting her role as Admin / HR assistant with Autonomy Care Group in October 2018. Steph is keen to progress her knowledge of HR and plans to start her CIPD Level 3 qualification in September 2019.
Stephanie Newman
HR Officer
Stephanie's career began in fashion retail 24 years ago, progressing through the company to area Learning and Development Assistant. Stephanie moved from fashion retail into interior design as a store manager in 2010. After promotion within the same company to HR and Central Operations Manager, she enrolled on the CIPD Level 5 Diploma in Human Resource Manager, graduating in October 2018. She joined the Autonomy Care Group Team in September 2020 as HR officer to support the growth of services group wide. Outside of work, she is a keen crafter and dog lover.
Jen Latham
Marketing Co-Ordinator
After completing her Degree and Masters in Film Production, Jen learnt many key skills in campaigning and the art of Digital Marketing. Jen now has over 5 years experience in marketing over a variety of different sectors and brings her core skills in social media, content writing and branding awareness to Autonomy Care Group.
Jen joined Autonomy Care Group in December 2019 after relocating from Manchester.